Irish Rail has settled a series of claims with a procurement manager for an undisclosed sum after she made allegations of nepotism and bullying at the State railway company.

Suzanne Murphy said she was passed over for a permanent role – despite claiming she had been promised one at interview – at a time when she said two family members of senior staff at the company with less experience were given permanent contracts.

The Workplace Relations Commission heard her complaints under the Employment Equality Act 1977 and the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 against Iarnród Éireann at an adjudication ….read more

A Technical University of Dublin lecturer has lost his discrimination claim over getting an email about Lent from the college’s chaplaincy service.

The email from the chaplaincy service on the occasion of Lent had asked: “Who is Jesus?”.

“This proselytising notice was unsolicited,” Ian Kilroy, a Buddhist and journalism instructor at the School of Media had submitted.

The college told the Workplace Relations Commission that universal emails were sent about religious celebrations and argued that sending an email in relation to a faith which the complainant did not adhere to “does not amount to discrimination”.

Mr Kilroy also claimed the college’s chaplaincy was ….read more

Paramedics who agreed to return to work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have been hit with pay deductions by the HSE, the Workplace Relations Commission has heard.

The WRC has heard the case of one such paramedic, who came back from injury leave to work on Covid-19 testing when the pandemic broke out. He claims that the HSE threatened to deduct a lump sum of nearly €5,000 from his pay to claw back what it says was a payroll error.

Dave Lanigan disputes the lawfulness of the deduction and maintains he was entitled to the money. The WRC has heard Mr ….read more

A yoghurt factory worker who was accused of plotting a wildcat strike has been awarded over €4,000 in compensation and redress after being unfairly sacked.

The Workplace Relations Commission found there was a “real and present danger” to the company – but that the worker had been “singled out” and “made an example of” in a rushed dismissal without proper procedure.

Bartlomiej Wilczynski, who denied his bosses’ allegations, had his complaints under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 and the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Act 1973 against Irish Yogurts Ltd of Scartagh, Clonakilty, Co Cork upheld by the WRC in a ….read more

A newspaper worker’s complaint that he was penalised for giving evidence during a workplace grievance hearing by being denied lucrative Christmas work has been rejected by the Workplace Relations Commission.

The decision in his complaint under the Industrial Relations Act against the undisclosed publisher, where he worked as a machine operator, was made public this morning in an anonymised decision.

The complainant claimed he had been penalised for giving evidence at a workplace grievance hearing after a colleague made certain accusations against a supervisor.

At a hearing earlier this month, the WRC was told that the publisher needed shift cover for the ….read more

A chef who was let go after two days’ work when his boss became aware he was a settled Traveller has been awarded over €4,000 in compensation for unlawful workplace discrimination.

David McDonagh’s complaint under the Employment Equality Act against Harmony Catering Services Ltd was upheld by the Workplace Relations Commission in a decision published this morning (Thurs 21/7).

The employer denied any discrimination and insisted Mr McDonagh didn’t have the “skill” for the job.

But the WRC rejected that argument and found the company had never suggested there was any issue with his work, noting that he had completed a trial shift ….read more

The Workplace Relations Commission has ruled an autistic patient was discriminated against by a medical facility that told him by phone he wouldn’t have to wear a face mask for an appointment — but turned him away when he arrived without one.

The claimant, who’s only the second person to have an Equal Status Act complaint over the application of face mask rules during the pandemic upheld, has been awarded €3,000 in compensation.

The award is six times what was paid out in the only other Equal Status Act claim on disability-based discrimination linked to the non-wearing of a face ….read more

A bus driver has lost a discrimination claim over Dublin Bus’s move to end an arrangement that saw him working day shifts only to accommodate his sleep apnoea – upsetting a strict “pecking order” among its drivers.

Karl Griffin brought a complaint under the Employment Equality Act against Bus Átha Cliath alleging discrimination on the grounds of disability.

He claimed he was denied reasonable accommodation for his conditions, which affected his sleep, when he was taken off day shifts after Dublin Bus lost the State contract to run the number 17A bus route on Dublin’s northside.

Mr Griffin was on sick leave between ….read more

A waiter who was told “go, there is the door” after a disagreement with his manager at a south Dublin restaurant has been awarded €34,560 by the Workplace Relations Commission for unfair dismissal.

Stephen Ng received a further four weeks’ pay and €960 for his employer’s failure to provide him with terms of employment or to give him a notice period after ending his employment.

He had worked since 2016 as a senior waiter at the Orchid Restaurant on Pembroke Road in Dublin 4 before he was dismissed in February 2019.

Adjudicating officer Caroline Reidy, in her decision, wrote that there was “no ….read more

A trainee teacher says the international fashion house Prada reneged on a promise to let her switch to part-time hours at its Kildare Village store when the time came for her to do her school placement.

Hayleigh Hernon has lodged complaints under the Unfair Dismissals Act, the Payment of Wages Act, the Organisation of Working Time Act, and the Terms of Employment Act against the Prada store at the Kildare Village shopping centre, Nurney Road, Kildare.

She told the Workplace Relations Commission that she waited months for an answer from her boss, who then told her just days before her placement was ….read more